A Graduation Gift

"Amanda Ke…"

It sounded familiar to Horace as he repeated the name, but he found himself at a loss in pinpointing it to an actual face.

"Ah, you might know her? She is a world-famous female pianist. She had a performance in a concert in G City not long ago,"

The man smiled and reminded Horace after sensing his confusion.

The name clicked into place at the man's remark. Horace remembered a concert in G City recently. The performers and singers were all from abroad; and major real estate developers in G City, including the Tang Group, sponsored the event.

Amanda Ke's piano performance was the grand finale. The next day, her name poured out from almost all the headlines of newspapers and social media posts. There was an overwhelmingly unanimous verdict— her performance was praised in words as an 'unprecedented success.'

With the turn of time, living conditions had been steadily improving in the city; and more and more people were gaining new appreciation for the arts. The government of G City was planning to build a new theatre in the newly-constructed tourism industrial area in order to host more performances from different artists in the future.

As for the TY Group, they took advantage of this opportunity by holding a concert for Amanda, and was well-received by the public. The tickets almost sold out only hours after the performance had been announced.

Horace didn't pay a lot of attention to this in the beginning, so it took him some time to recall the name, and all he knew was that she was an excellent pianist.

"I barely know her. How can I let Rufus and her be together?" he hesitated.

It would be strange to set Rufus up with a woman whom he didn't know at all. The very idea was ridiculous.

The man chuckled at his response and said, "I will connect you with Amanda. You can rest assured that she would be agreeable to a marriage with Rufus."

He sounded confident, his laugh was loud and had an odd ring to it.

"Are they old friends? Then… what about our business agreement?"

Horace asked, his mind on the negotiations for the investment.

"When Amanda and Rufus decide to marry, I will put the money into the Tang Group's account. Money isn't a problem. Name your price, and we'll be sure to match it," the man answered nonchalantly.

He didn't seem to care about the money. From the way he spoke, it was as if the marriage between Rufus and Amanda was the only thing he had in mind.

the situation. After some deliberation, he had arrived at

to the success of this cooperation," he

the busy tone from the other end. The reality of the conversation had not yet completely

investor came from a famous venture capital firm. A colleague had once mentioned to Horace that the company was known for its risk-taking strategies. The riskier an investment was, the more willing they were to

Since the establishment of the company, they had had to make a lot of changes and sacrifices, climbing their way to be one of the greatest companies in G City today. They had a steady foundation with their long

best option as the Tang group needed their backing and

their hands, and was willing to invest in the Tang Group on the condition of the marriage between Rufus and Amanda. Horace found himself unable to see a logical explanation

ended tragically. And his grandchild…wasn't even able to make it to this

between Rufus and Amanda. And so, technically speaking, if

Rufus was. He wasn't Lionel. In fact, he seemed to be an opposite of his half-brother. Rufus wouldn't be as submissive as

on Amanda's background first. As the saying goes, know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. He pored his eyes

a presidential suite at a five-star hotel in G City, Amanda threw a file on the desk.

woman!"

to be someone with an esteemed background, from the way Rufus behaved around

did win many competitions since her university days. However, her achievements were

the contents. It was an excellent wine with a warm,

bitch who could only resort to dirty tricks to seduce her brother-in-law. A woman such as her would never deserve

Rome. Upon finishing her studies, she was employed directly by the Tang Group and was given the position of manager

minutest detail, as if she had been placed under a magnifying glass. But Amanda wanted to know more. She wanted to dissect her if possible. She decided that Lionel

of wine, she looked at the photo of Lionel and Ivy. It was

Rome, and Lionel was already seeing Ivy, which meant that

about the date of Ivy's case history. Three days after Ivy's miscarriage, Lionel and Cassandra filed for a divorce. There

Lionel couldn't put up

article, Cassandra was banned from working as a designer in the same industry in the coming two

her own. Such a young designer needed backing and recommendation to gain enough experiences in order to establish a name and build up a career. And the industry was not kind. It had always been a cut-throat competition. While it was true that some designers managed to became famous after slow and constant effort, success came at a later age to them. As for Cassandra, she just won the American architecture competition, which would have been a great stepping stone to infiltrate the international market. However, she let the chance slip by for

into a satisfied smile. She felt as if she had already defeated Cassandra when she had

came to work. He kept pacing back and forth in the office. He felt stifled, and grabbed his tie to pull it down to give himself more space to breathe, however it still

at the company, Lionel saw Cassandra in